[Verginius Rufus]

Clinton's feckless foreign policy gave us 9/11. His zeal for foreign campaign money is what allowed China to build up its military, which may cause us major problems in the future. His administration was perhaps the most scandal-ridden of any in history, whereas GWB's has been one of the cleanest. The Clintons' belief in politics-as-war, and their getting the Democrats to abandon any integrity they may once have had, in order to help Bill survive the Lewinsky scandal, have polarized and coarsened our politics more than anything else.

The financial meltdown is partly the result of Clinton's policies.

The only area where Clinton excelled was in keeping his own poll numbers up. There's no way that GWB deserves to be ranked lower than Clinton.

[meandog]

I rate legacy in terms of something a president can call his accomplishment, i.e.:

Reagan—Total defeat of monolithic communism and winning of the Cold War.
Eisenhower—The Interstate Highway System, beginning of nuclear power, especially the nuclear Navy, school integration.
Kennedy—Space exploration, man to the moon, creation of Spec. Ops in armed forces.
Truman—Ending of WWII, dropping A-Bomb; integretion of Armed Forces.
Ford—Holding nation together after Watergate.
LBJ—Civil Rights legislation.
GHWB—Gulf War I (incomplete)
Clinton—Bosnia (overshadowed by failings on Somalia, failure to capture OBL).
GW Bush—9/11 aftermath but incomplete on Gulf War 2; (he will rise with stable Iraq and Afghanistan; stay where he’s at on my list if they aren’t stable because of Katrina, economy).
Nixon—Opened China, but overshadowed by Watergate.
Carter—Egypt and Israeli peace accord but seriously flawed by rise and humiliation of Irani capture of Americans, Desert rescue flop, economy, and Islamic fundamentalism fomented by Ayatollah Khomeni).